The Bangsamoro deserves statistics

Opinion piece from the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Oct 12): The Bangsamoro deserves statistics

.... P-Noy is extremely popular among Muslims. How many would guess, for instance, that President Aquino’s popularity is even higher among Muslims than among Filipinos in general? The SWS Third Quarter survey for 2012, done last Aug. 24-27, found 89 percent of its Muslim respondents satisfied, and only 6 percent of them dissatisfied, with his performance, giving him a net satisfaction rating of +83, well above the +70 SWS border line for Excellent. Thus, P-Noy’s popularity among Muslims far outstrips the 77 percent satisfied and 10 percent dissatisfied with him, for a net +67, among Filipinos nationwide in the Third Quarter, classified as Very Good. I doubt that the new Framework Agreement does any harm to the President’s standing among Muslims.

Poverty is much more extensive among Muslims. In the SWS survey of August 2012, self-rated poverty among families with Muslim heads was 61 percent, compared to 47 percent among families in general, nationwide. As first reported in BusinessWorld on Sept. 24, the national percentage of the self-rated poor fell from 51 in May to 47 in August. For Muslim families in particular, special tabulations show that the percentage of the self-rated poor fell from a massive 78 in May to 61 in August. Thus, Muslim families, though poorer, shared in the recent decline in poverty.

Self-rated food-poverty (families rating their food as poor or mahirap) also declined over the last two quarters. For families in general, the decline was from 39 percent in May to 35 percent in August. For Muslim families in particular, tabulations show that the decline was from 76 percent in May to 55 percent in August. Thus, Muslim families also shared in the recent decline in food-poverty.

Among Muslim families in particular, tabulations of the August survey show that those that experienced hunger were 31.6 percent, consisting of 25.3 percent in moderate hunger, and 6.3 percent in severe hunger. Yet hunger fell among Muslims, between May and August. Tabulations of the May survey show that, among Muslim families, those that experienced hunger were 44.3 percent, consisting of 31.0 percent in moderate hunger, and 13.3 percent in severe hunger.

Statistical visibility matters. Groups without data are statistically invisible. Just as there are statistics pertaining specifically to women, so too can there be statistics pertaining specifically to the Bangsamoro. But statistical data do not grow in the wild on trees, awaiting harvest; they need nurturing, in orchards. Statistical agencies, both public and private, must gear up for this challenge. Social Weather Stations will include the Bangsamoro in its survey agenda. The Bangsamoro should have its own independent research institutes.

Statistics is a branch of the sciences, and social survey research is one of its applications. They assist in peaceful advocacy for the wellbeing of a social group, by raising public consciousness about it. They are not branches of public relations or of fiction-writing. The more the practitioners of statistics about the Bangsamoro, the clearer will be the truth about its people.

http://opinion.inquirer.net/38610/the-bangsamoro-deserves-statistics